Aside from breaking down the nuances of SEO and why it’s important for your site, we also highlighted the importance of keeping pace with Google’s algorithms.

While many novices will assume that SEO optimisation is a one-time deal, the opposite is actually true. Because Google is constantly updating and improving its algorithms it means your site has to adapt.

Indeed, if you check the Moz.com history of Google changes, you’ll get a complete overview of how the search engine has moved from features designed to detect simple keywords (such as the Google Toolbar in 2000) to recent innovations such as RankBrain that can tackle non-understandable queries and learn what they mean in context.

Keeping tabs on this information isn’t easy and that’s one of the main reasons we advocated the services of SEO consultants. Naturally, there are many ways to find an SEO consultant, moreover a marketing agency, but not all are created equal.

Marketing Agencies for All Budgets

Depending on your niche, your needs and your budget, there’s a marketing agency to suit. For example, for those with a small budget and a lack of knowledge about the industry, recent Guardian Startup of the Year 2015-2016 nominee Little Digitalist is currently making waves in the industry.

Started by Lucy Kirkness in 2015 and operating as a one-woman-band, the company’s aim is to empower businesses to become their “own little marketing team”. By employing the services of freelancers and using her own skills, Kirkness is able to offer a high quality, low budget service for small businesses that want to improve their own grasp of SEO optimisation and digital marketing.

At the other end of the scale, lager, independent agencies have built up a reputation for excellence when it comes to devising, overseeing and analysing major marketing campaigns.

Getting the Best ROI from your SEO

As we’ve shown, the services of an SEO expert are almost indispensable if you own a website, and the UK’s industry is set up to cater to all ends of the spectrum. However, what you should also be concerned about is the amount of bang you get for your proverbial buck.

SEO is constantly changing and there are people who can help, but will it actually help drive traffic to your site, raise your profile and increase your profits? According to Digital Current, SEO costs can vary widely depending on your overall goal.

For those with less than $500/£350 a month to spend, Digital Current recommends taking some courses and doing the work yourself. For small to medium business, the average price for SEO consultancy was between $1,000/£700 and $5,000/£3,500, according to the site’s research.

Naturally, as you move up the scale and your demand increases, so does the cost and it’s not uncommon for lager businesses to spend in excess of $100,000/£70,000 a month on SEO. Naturally, if you’re spending anything like $1,000/£700+ each month you’ll want to know that it’s worth it; especially if you’re a small business.

After assessing some of his own SEO data, Jason DeMers of Forbes found that a high quality SEO campaign has “great value”. By achieving the number one spot on Google for keywords related to your niche, you should see a 33% click through rate which means for every 5,000 searches of that keyword you’ll get 1,650 visits to your site.

This is obviously an impressive ROI, but getting to the number one spot isn’t easy. Google is constantly changing and the only way to keep up is to work with an expert and that’s why you should make SEO consultants an integral part of your overall business plan.